lass 



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l^RKSKN'ren BY 




HON. HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 



IN COMMEMORATION OF 

THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE BIRTH OF 

HANNIBAL HAMLIN 

PARIS, MAINE, AUGUST 27, 1909 



MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL 
LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES 

COMMANDERY OF THE STATE OF MAINE 




PORTLAND, MAINE 
LEFAVOR-TOWER COMPANY 

1909 




24 H '09 



FOREWORD 

AT a meeting of the Maine Commandery of the Military 
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, held 
in Portland on March 3, 1909, Brevet Major-General Joshua L. 
Chamberlain read a paper on Abraham Lincoln, in commemora- 
tion of the one hundredth anniversary of President Lincoln's 
birth, February 12, 1809. It was the same paper that he had 
read in the Academy of Music in Philadelphia before the Com- 
mandery of the State of Pennsylvania on the day of the Lincoln 
Centennial, and a most eloquent and impressive dehneation of 
the character and services of the martyr president. At the 
close of the reading of the paper, and after expression had been 
given to the profound impression which the paper had made upon 
all present, the recorder called attention to the fact that on 
August 27, 1909, would occur the one hundredth anniversary 
of the birth of Hannibal Hamlin, vice-president with Lincoln, 
a Third Class Companion of the Loyal Legion, and at the time 
of his death a member of the Maine Commandery ; and sug- 
gested that the annual meeting of the Commandery, May 5, 
1909, be made a Hamlin commemorative meeting. The sug- 
gestion was favorably received, and General Selden Connor was 
requested to prepare a paper for the May meeting on the life 
and services of Mr. Hamlin. This paper, when read at the 
annual meeting, awakened the deepest interest in the members 
of the Commandery and their invited guests, and it was at once 
suggested that the Commandery take into consideration the 
erection on Paris Hill of a suitable memorial of Maine's distin- 
guished son. This suggestion, also, was favorably received, and 
Brevet Major-General Joshua L. Chamberlain, Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Selden Connor and Brevet Major Henry S. Burrage were 



requested to confer with the citizens of Paris and make arrange- 
ments for the erection of such a memorial and for its dedication 
on August 27, 1909, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth 
of Mr. Hamhn. 

Soon after, by request of the committee, General Charles 
Hamlin and Major Burrage visited Paris, and conferred with 
Mr. George M. Atwood and other citizens of the town with ref- 
erence to the memorial and its unveiling August 27, 1909. The 
citizens entered heartily into the plans for the proposed under- 
taking. They at once agreed to place on the " Common " in 
front of the house in which Mr. Hamlin was born a memorial 
boulder, and the Maine Commandery of the Loyal Legion 
agreed to affix to it a bronze tablet with a suitable inscription. 
It was also agreed that the citizens of Paris should have charge 
of the local arrangements connected with the celebration under 
the direction of appropriate committees, while the Loyal Legion 
should select the speakers, and take charge of the public exer- 
cises on centennial day. 

The committees appointed by the citizens of Paris were as 
follows : 

Executive Committee — Admiral Henry VV. Lyon, Rev. G. W. F. 
Hill, Lewis M. Brown, George M. Atwood, Henry D. Hammond, James S. 
Wright, George R. Morton, N. Dayton Bolster, Charles L. Case, L. C. 
Bates, William J. Wheeler, Arthur E. Forbes, William C. Stearns, Charles 
W. Bowker, Dr. F. E. Wheeler, Prof. E. A. Daniels, Charles W. Chase. 

Entertainment Committee — Rev. C. A. Knickerbocker, Mrs. E. H. 
Jackson, Mrs. O. A. Thayer, Mrs. George M. Atwood, Mrs. J. C. Cum- 
mings, Mrs. W. H. Cummings. 

Decoration Committee — Daniel Winslow, Charles E. Case, Mrs. H. 
W. Lyon Mrs. F. C. Case, Miss Gertrude Brown, Clayton K. Brooks. 

Committee on Officers — Hiram R. Hubbard, Wilbur L. Farrar, 
Alfred H. Jackson. 

Committee on Boulder — Loren B. Merrill, Olban A. Maxim, George 
W. Cole, Ernest F. Shaw, Joseph B. Cole. 

Reception Committee — Rev. and Mrs. G. W. F. Hill, Rev. and Mrs. 
Dr. Mann, Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Knickerbocker, Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. 
Case, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis M. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Parris, Miss 
Fannie Hammond, Mrs. M. C. Snow, Dr. Charlotte F. Hammond. 



4 



Transportation Committee — Albert D. Park, John Pierce, Newton 
Cummings, Jarvis M. Thayer, Archie H. Curtis, Albert W. Walker, Alfred 
M. Daniels. 

Finance Committee — Perley F. Ripley, Frederick T. Case, Miss Persis 
N. Andrews, Miss Agnes Brown, Miss E. G. May, Mrs. J. L. Carter, Mrs. 
C. P. Harlow. 

Committee on Speakers' Stand and Seats — O. A. Thayer, George 
Gibbs, Charles L. Shaw, E. B. Curtis, Fred W. Shaw. 

Committee on Care of Horses — H. P. Hammond, James L. Chase, 
Alonzo Pomeroy, Leslie E. Newell, L. Ellsworth Thayer, S. C. Buck, 
George H. Proctor. 

Committee on Nominations — George M. Atwood, John Pierce, Hiram 
R. Hubbard, Mrs. E. H. Jackson, Mrs. O. A. Thayer. 

A suitable memorial boulder was at length found in the Ham- 
lin pasture, land now owned by Mr. Hiram Heald, and it was 
hauled to its place in front of the Hamlin mansion by the 
strong draft-horses belonging to the Paris Manufacturing Com- 
pany, furnished by the general manager of the company, Mr. 
George R. Morton. A concrete foundation was prepared for 
the boulder, and the ground around it for some distance was 
graded up to the base of the boulder. 

The tablet was prepared by the well-known bronze and brass 
workers, Paul E. Cabaret & Company of New York City, whose 
design was approved July 14, 1909. It was cast early in 
August, and when finished was shipped to Paris, where it was 
placed on the memorial boulder under the direction of the Paris 
committee. 



THE COMMEMORATION 

THE day of the commemoration, August 27, 1909, was not 
an ideal one for Paris Hill. Welcome showers on the 
afternoon of the previous day had laid the dust and lowered the 
high temperature of the middle of the week, but a northwest 
wind swept over the hill-top, and clouds shut out somewhat the 
warm sunshine. All in all, however, the weather conditions 
were preferable to those of either of the two preceding days. 

The Hamlin mansion was in holiday dress, and so was the 
residence of Rear Admiral Henry W. Lyon ( retired ), near the 
stand that had been erected for the speakers in front of the 
Baptist church, which was decorated with flags and bunting. 
The Hamlin elm, planted by Hannibal Hamlin in his earlier 
years and now a large tree, was also decorated, while the memo- 
rial boulder was veiled by two American flags. Places of his- 
toric interest on the Hill were marked with placards for the 
information of the visitors of the day. 

Many of the guests of the families on the Hill had already 
arrived. Early in the morning of the centennial others in 
crowds began to appear, coming by the various roads centering 
on Paris Hill. They came in vehicles of all descriptions from a 
hayrack to an automobile, and not a few came afoot. Oxford 
county of course was largely represented, but there were visitors 
from all parts of Maine and from many places beyond the 
state. By some the attendance was estimated at about five 
thousand, but the Oxford Democrat probably is nearer to the 
fact in its conservative estimate of about three thousand. 

Those who came on the Grand Trunk morning train from 
Portland were met at the station at South Paris by teams 
provided by the committee on transportation, and the road from 



South Paris to Paris Hill became an animated scene as the long 
line of carriages ascended the highway leading to Paris Hill. 
With the Loyal Legion came the famous military band of the 
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, under the 
direction of Bandmaster Thieme. In Academy Hall lunch had 
been provided for the Loyal Legion, and the members of the 
band, by the Universalist Good Cheer Society of South Paris ; 
and this was served not long after their arrival. The speakers 
at the centennial exercises, and the ladies accompanying them, 
were most hospitably entertained at the homes of the residents 
on Paris Hill. 

The services connected with the centennial were opened at 
12.15 by the band of the National Soldiers' Home in front of 
the Baptist church, where seats were provided for many of the 
visitors ; while on the portico of the church, immediately in 
rear of the speakers' platform, were seated members of the 
Hamlin family. Companions of the Loyal Legion, and other 
guests. The following members of the Hamlin family were 
present : Mrs. Hannibal Hamlin of Bangor, the widow of the 
vice-president ; General Charles Hamlin of Bangor, Hon. Han- 
nibal E. Hamlin of Ellsworth and Mr. Frank Hamlin of Chi- 
cago, 111., sons of Hannibal Hamlin ; Mr. Charles E. Hamlin of 
New York City (son of General Charles Hamlin) and his wife ; 
Miss Louise M. Hamlin, great-granddaughter ; Dr. Cyrus Ham- 
lin of Brooklyn, N. Y., grandson ; Hannibal Hamlin ( son of 
Dr. Cyrus Hamlin) great-grandson; Hon. Charles S. Hamlin 
of Boston ( cousin ) and his wife ; Edward Hamlin of Boston 
(cousin) and his daughter, Elinor C. Hamlin, grand-niece. 

At 12.30 promptly Rear Admiral Henry W. Lyon, U. S. N. 
( retired ), chairman of the Paris executive committee, on behalf 
of the citizens of Paris, announced their choice of Brevet Major- 
General Joshua L. Chamberlain as the president of the day. In 
presenting him, he said : 

"It is an honor to have General Chamberlain with us — the 
worthy and patriotic citizen, gallant soldier, erudite educator and 





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^»* 1 



MAJ.-GEN. JOSHUA L. CHAMBERLAIN. 



thrice governor of this state ; he needs no introduction to a 
Maine or national audience." 

General Chamberlain, having gracefully acknowledged the 
honor conferred upon him, introduced the Rev. Dr. John S. 
Sewall of Bangor, chaplain of the Maine Commandery of the 
Loyal Legion, as the chaplain of the day. 

After the prayer. General Chamberlain said : 

" Honored by his fellows in being called to distinguished 
positions in state and nation ; advisor, counselor and trusted 
friend of Abraham Lincoln, as vice-president of the United 
States during the darkest four years of the Civil War ; yet in 
civil life and in private station never forgetting his townsmen 
or the people of his state whom he called neighbors and friends, 
Hannibal Hamlin is remembered one hundred years after his 
birth, and will be remembered w^hen the present century shall 
have marked off another hundred years on the nation's dial. 

** The memorial we consecrate today is a testimony, and not a 
measurement. The law of Sinai was graven on tables of stone, 
to hold before men's senses a quickener for their spirit ; com- 
mitted to the most enduring of earthly substances to compete 
with the corrosions of time. 

" But that record was a reminder of the law written on the 
heart of every right-minded man — that searching and eternal 
law which Christ interpreted as the rule of life, and its fulfill- 
ment the goal of history. 

" So with our tablet here. The enumeration of his offices, 
however high, is not the measure of the man we honor. His 
ampler record is in the hearts of those who knew him, and 
in the influence of his character and the reach of his service, 
which are immeasureable. No tablet could hold the transcript 
of this ; nor can the corrosions of time annul it. 

" Yet here, where his life begun, our hearts place his memo- 
rial, that the hearts of others may see it and be made stronger. 

" You, thoughtful citizens, have consecrated this spot, proud 
to claim this example of manhood in its noblest integrity. 



*' You, loyal Companions of his services for his country, have 
inscribed your testimony of its worth to the world. 

" You, of the coming generations, for whose enlargement of 
life that worth was given, to you we commit the keeping of this 
token, not only as a memorial of something great that has 
passed, but in its meaning and lesson an on-going power for 
good, passing place and time." 

In introducing Governor Bert M. Fernald, General Chamber- 
lain said : 

" I now present the honored Governor of Maine ; chosen by 
you to that high place once held by Hannibal Hamlin — and 
worthily following him — Governor Fernald." 

GOVERNOR FERNALD'S ADDRESS. 

" I need not assure how deeply I am impressed by the signif- 
icance of this occasion and by this distinguished gathering. I 
know full well that you are drawn here by the same impulse 
that draws me here — the earnest desire to give by our pres- 
ence, and if possible by our words, a fitting turn to this com- 
memorative day and here at the natal place of the great com- 
moner to speak, out of the fullness of the heart of the state of 
Maine, the tribute that it is eager to pay. It seems to me sin- 
gularly happy that this event, which we are commemorating 
should have been in this especially God-given spot ; and that he 
whose cradle we can almost seem to see rocking in those 
August days a century ago, should himself have been born in 
the same year as Abraham Lincoln, and himself have been the 
first, as I believe is the fact, to have suggested Lincoln's birth- 
day as a day of national holiday. We have just done celebrat- 
ing that other centennial — and what is finer than that we 
complete the work of memorial and a year of joint remembrance 
to the two great men who struck hands together in love, friend- 
ship and a perfect understanding, in the great crisis of this 
nation in 1861 ? The one was born in the new West, when the 

10 




HON, BERT M. FERNALD. 



tide of slavery was at full flood ; the other was born here in old 
Oxford county, in the land of mountains that have ever bred 
free men ; yet the same spirit animated the one as animated the 
other, and the same call sounded in the ears of the man of 
Maine as sounded in the ears of the man of Kentucky. God 
was good to us in 1809; He was good to this slave-ridden land 
far beyond its deserts, as I have sometimes thought, in giving 
us the rail-splitter, the lawyer, the emancipator of a race ; He 
was good to us in like degree in giving us here on this hill-top, 
the quickening of that majestic old commoner, that far-seeing 
prophet of the times, that unflinching patriot, Hannibal Hamlin. 
" It is the part of others at this time to sketch in detail the life 
that was begun here a hundred years ago in the even then well- 
filled Hamlin household, for, with the habit of the time, the cradle 
of the Hamlins had rocked industriously until 1809. It is but 
fitting, however, that we refer briefly, at least, to the ancestry of 
Hannibal Hamlin, and to the associations which cluster about 
this spot, which, for so many years, was the home of families 
most influential in the history and development of Maine. Here 
lived a group of men who exerted great influence in shaping the 
course of Maine in the opening years of her statehood. Here 
were an unusual number of educated men, constituting a refined 
and intellectual environment. As the Washburns in the neigh- 
boring town of Livermore were rearing senators, congressmen 
and governors, so were the Hamlins, out of a stock that 
descended in direct line from that which followed the Mayflower 
Pilgrims to Cape Cod and settled in Barnstable in 1639. The 
Hamlins took active part in the early struggles of colonization. 
They followed Washington's command through all the dark days 
of the Revolution, and kept close to Knox, LaFayette, Pulaski, 
and Alexander Hamilton. Hannibal Hamlin's grandfather 
became an officer in the Revolutionary army, and in return for 
his services the General Court of Massachusetts gave him and 
his sons grants of land in the District of Maine. Major Hamlin 
visited this land and wrote to the General Court that he did not 
highly esteem the gift ; indeed, he advised the General Court of 

II 



Massachusetts to give the land back to its original owners, — 
the bears. This may have been the origin of the title of this 
domain in the so-called Oxford Bears. At any rate, the Oxford 
Bears got one of the choicest slices of the territory of Maine, 
and to their credit they have tremendously improved both the 
quality of the land and the stock of bears since that time. And 
the Hamlins who came here helped to do it. Dr. Cyrus Ham- 
lin, father of Hannibal Hamlin, graduated at Harvard Medical 
School ; was six feet tall, and weighed two hundred pounds — a 
great man in every way. He settled in Livermore, married a 
Livermore of Pilgrim patriotic stock on both sides of her 
house. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin moved here to Paris Hill in 
1805, where he built this beautiful old colonial mansion in 
which Hannibal Hamlin was born, this row of elms, I am told, 
having been set out by Hannibal Hamlin himself. The Hamlins 
played as children with the Washburns, Israel, Elihu B., Cad- 
wallader, Charles, and William D., an unique group of lads of 
whom, in their joint and several destinies, three were to be 
governors of states, five were to be members of the House of 
Representatives in Congress, two or three to be United States 
senators, three were to be diplomats in the most exalted posi- 
tion in foreign service, one was to be secretary of state in the 
cabinet of President Grant, and one was to be vice-president of 
the United States. 

" This is of no common or uncertain consequence. We are 
apt to credit the supernatural element of life and give acknowl- 
edgment to God alone for raising up men in great crises, but we 
must give credit also in the fixing of character, the formation of 
ideals, and the growth of intellectual power to ancestry and 
environment. Men get much of their power of sacrifice from the 
father or the mother — quite as often the latter — and they find 
much of their incentive to liberty and freedom from dwelling in 
these great open places, on hills and mountains like these, that 
ever have reared men devoted to freedom and to public service. 

"And Hannibal Hamlin was a man of this type. In these days 
we find a large, and sometimes I am afraid, a growing incredulity, 

12 



that any man should risk his own future for the cause that 
he believes to be right. We have come as a people too largely 
to estimate the acts of public servants as from a purely selfish 
standpoint. It is not wise to claim too much (for this frequently 
reacts), but in all you may read of Hannibal Hamlin you will 
find that he never hesitated between what he thought to be right 
and what he thought to be solely for his own interests. If the 
two conflicted he chose the path of public service. This made 
him great ; this crowned his life with something better than 
mere success ; this made him fit to be set in the same frame with 
Abraham Lincoln ; this endows this spot on which we stand 
today, as hallowed with ten thousand memories of his sweet and 
gentle nature, his kindling wit, his broad human sympathy, his 
devotion to the right. His remarkable abilities, his unique intel- 
lectual achievements, his political sagacity could not alone have 
accomplished this. Other men have had these and failed. Others 
have been equipped with all that make men great only to become 
little. At the height of his career Hamlin risked his apparent 
future ; broke with the political faith of his fathers ; renounced 
the party of Calhoun and Douglas in which he was born, and 
for the sake of his self respect and at the cost of an influence that 
had made him for a generation the favorite son of the old Dem- 
ocracy of Maine, allied himself with a new cause that seemed 
almost hopeless and helpless. The Douglas Democracy was at 
the climax of its power ; it had endorsed the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, and had stood forth in its national convention 
as the progressive pro-slavery force of the land. The speech of 
renunciation of that party by Senator Hamlin in the United 
States Senate was an epoch in his life. It was apparently his 
political suicide, yet it was but a part of the creed of the man 
who for twelve years had fought slavery within his own party, 
and who forsook the party only when it became evident that 
further fight on that field was useless. He could not follow the 
impulses of his freedom-loving heart and they led him ultimately 
in the passing of the next few years of storm and stress to the 
side of Abraham Lincoln ; for Senator Hamlin became the 

13 



leader and the hero of the new party in Maine, and that party, 
animated by the spirit of freedom, swept the Pine Tree State for 
Hannibal Hamlin as governor by an unprecedented majority in 
1856 and soon after sent Hannibal Hamlin back again to the 
United States Senate as an unfettered champion of human rights, 
and thereby placed him on an eminence from which he was called 
into the seat of power at the right hand of Lincoln in 1861. 

" If we dwell on this it is to emphasize solely Mr. Hamlin's 
loyalty to principle. Men wavered in those days. Those who 
wavered fell ; those who stood straight marched on and on, reck- 
less of their fate in the advance of the flag of freedom. The 
incident typifies Mr. Hamlin. He was loyal. He was loyal to 
the Democracy until loyalty was stultification. He was loyal to 
Lincoln. He was loyal to the cause throughout the war. The 
soldiers of the Union army never had a warmer friend than was 
Hannibal Hamlin. I have recently received from the state his- 
torian, Dr. Henry S. Burrage, a hitherto unpublished letter, 
recently found among some of Governor Israel Washburn's 
papers, which shows Mr. Hamlin's earnestness for the cause of 
freedom, and which letter I am permitted, through the kindness 
of the state historian, to read to you for the first time. It is as 
follows : 

<< « New York, Apr. 23, 1861. 
Dear Governor : 

I arrived here this morning. The devotion of our people of all classes is 
heart cheering. The whole country is wild with excitement. I have time to 
say but a few words and those I deem important. While Maine should act 
with all POSSIBLE DESPATCH and have her one regiment in the field at 
the EARLIEST PRACTICABLE MOMENT, still, before they are sent 
from home be sure and have them all well uniformed and equipped. Be 
sure of that. I trust the legislature will put at least ten more regiments upon 
a war footing, ready to march at an hour's notice. 

Yours truly, 

H. Hamlin.' 

"This letter peculiarly illustrates Mr. Hamlin's zeal for the 
cause ; his personal interest in the comfort and welfare of the 
soldiers and his pride in the goo^ name of Maine. 

14 



" Mr. Hamlin was especially loyal to his native state. He was 
loyal to his neighbors. He was loyal to himself and to the 
memory of those true-hearted people from whom he had 
descended. Upon his retirement from office as vice-president 
he became collector of the port of Boston under Andrew John- 
son. Again he saw his duty in self-sacrifice, for he resigned this 
office of great emoluments because, as he said, he could not 
acquiesce by his silence in measures that sought to restore to 
power men who sought to destroy the government. He again 
returned to the United States Senate, where he served through 
the administrations of General Grant and his successor, until at 
the age of seventy-two he voluntarily withdrew from his proud 
position as the father of the Senate in influence and in wisdom in 
order to make way for younger men then coming upon the field 
of action. Mr. Hamlin hoped to pass the serene twilight of his 
life at his home in Bangor, but he was again called into active 
political life in the campaign of Mr. Blaine. Later he was 
appointed United States minister to the court of Spain ; resigned 
after a year of service, and, early in the eighties, came back to 
Bangor to live among his old friends whom he loved and who 
loved him with a love that passeth words. Here he died one July 
Fourth, when more than eighty years of age. His life had spanned 
the history of the nation from Jefferson to McKinley. He had 
seen the nation grow from seven million people and seventeen 
states to nearly sixty million people and nearly forty states. He 
had fought a life-time for emancipation and had seen the edict of 
emancipation issued. His career had been unsullied by scandal 
and untouched by scorn. He had lived as true men should live 
according to the strict mandates of his conscience. He died as 
saints should die. 

" We stand here to-day on the scene of his birth. We mark 
with memorial a spot worthy of remembrance. It would have 
been unworthy had the life been small and mean — no matter 
what had been its power or prominence — but it was not small 
and mean ; it was great and purposeful ; it was distinguished by 
a lofty public service in high places ; it was endowed by the 

15 



spirit of patriotism and enriched by common sense ; it was 
Christian ; it was courageous ; it was a definite force in human 
progress. May Maine never forget Hannibal Hamhn ; may it 
never cease to honor him and may children's children come to 
this spot and here learn the story of the life of this country lad, 
who in recognition of the immortal ideals of manhood, and in the 
exaltation of public service above personal or party pride, 
attained great power and privilege which he ever used for the 
good of his fellow men." 

Governor Fernald was followed by the Hon. John D. Long, 
ex governor of Massachusetts and ex-secretary of the navy, who 
was introduced by General Chamberlain, as follows : 

"Now it is the testimony of a governor of Massachusetts, — 
furnished her by this state of Maine, overflowing with great 
men ; from this region where the very earth is prolific of jewels, 
— born in the bordering town ; himself fulfilling great public 
trusts in highest circles of government, — returning here to 
honor and be honored, — Governor John D. Long." 

GOVERNOR long's ADDRESS. 

^ " Hannibal Hamlin is only half his title. He was Hannibal 
Hamlin of Maine.. Such was his identification with his and our 
native state that he was rooted in her soil as were her pines. 
Her characteristics, her traditions, her spirit were his wherever 
he was — in her legislative halls, in the Senate of the United 
States, in diplomatic circles abroad, in every act and word of his 
life. No son of hers was ever more loyal. She was the breath 
of his nostrils from the hour a hundred years ago today when he 
was born on this hill where we now fitly gather to honor the 
anniversary and to dedicate to his memory this massive granite 
boulder — fit emblem of the firm and impregnable solidity of the 
man. 

•' And what a full life, ripening to the full corn in the ear, it 
was ! How full and fortunate 1 I can think of none more for- 
tunate. His birth was in this paradise of Paris Hill unsurpassed 

i6 




HON. JOHN D. LONG. 



for glory of natural scenery, the home of two early governors of 
the state whose modest law office still stands a precious memo- 
rial and whose influence helped to mould him. He was cradled " 
under the shadow of Streaked Mountain with the towering 
range of the White Mountains flinging back the sunset on his 
gaze. Health, strength, freedom were in the very air of his 
native hills. His education was in the best of the colleges of 
his time, which neither Harvard nor Bowdoin excelled — the 
college of the common school and of the spirit, political discus- 
sions, democratic associations and patriotic traditions of the 
unmixed New England people of his boyhood. The greater' 
part of the early settlers of all this region were Revolutionary 
soldiers. With a limited period at nearby Hebron Academy 
and, best of all, with the inspiration of a family circle of the best 
blood and character, what education or enfolding could have bet- 
ter fitted him for his career ? 

"The stock from which he came is of the first rank. He was 
happy in his parentage, as also in his offspring who worthily 
maintain the honor of the family name. The Hamlins and 
Livermores from whom he sprang on either side and the Wash- 
burns, all descendants of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, were 
pioneers from Massachusetts into Oxford County, Maine, after 
the Revolutionary war in which they served, and they were the 
founders of the neighboring town of Livermore, prolific of noted 
men. These are names which are now honored in the United 
States and the world over. What keener stimulus for honor- 
able fame and service could any boy have had I What wonder 
that from the first he was a leader — a leader of his youthful 
mates as he became afterwards a leader of men and of his coun- 
try ! Make all this the environment of a nature fearless, truth- 
ful, absolutely honest and incorrupt, sound in mind and body, 
God's best gifts, and you have the man. It was these qualities 
that endeared him to the people of Maine and made him the 
most popular as he was the most trusted representative that 
ever stood for their interests in the public service. There was 
a rugged nobility in him that won their hearts. It disdained the 

17 



veneer of sham and deceit as his hardy frame all his life dis- 
dained an overcoat. 

" The story of his career is too familiar to be repeated to those 
who know it by heart. It was steady advance on and up, and 
never a taint was on it. He was without fear and without 
reproach. He studied law one year in the best law office in 
Portland. He settled in the then extreme east of Maine — an 
Orient-going pioneer as his father had been before him. There 
he practised law — an honest lawyer. But his natural bent to 
a public career quickly led him into the path of public service. 
He at once was in the lead. He was captain of the local militia 
company. He was chosen a representative in the State Legisla- 
ture at twenty-five, and there at intervals served five years, three 
times elected speaker after his first term, the youngest man that 
ever held that place. At thirty-five he was a member of the 
National House of Representatives ; at thirty-eight United States 
senator ; at forty-seven governor of Maine ; at fifty-two vice- 
president of the republic, and would have been renominated for 
that office had Lincoln's preference been followed; in 1865, col- 
lector of customs at Boston ; from 1869 to 1881, again in the 
United States Senate ; when three years before threescore and 
ten, minister to Spain ; and for the last ten years of his life 
enjoying the rest he had earned and enjoying it not idle or 
impaired but with the old boyish keenness of interest in the 
neighbors, the farm, the fishing brooks, the civic and rural sur- 
roundings of his Penobscot home, with his devoted wife and 
children about him,j now and then returning to the political 
stump, notably for McKinley in his congressional campaign in 
Ohio in 1884, or appearing before state legislative committees or 
attending the inauguration of President Harrison. When — so 
fittingly on Independence Day, July 4, 1891 — he died sitting at 
his club, the Nestor among his associates, it was no lingering 
death-bed but the quick, painless stop of the full beating heart 
and unimpaired brain. What a refutation of the Osier cult I 

" This is the skeleton of his career. Its flesh and blood are 
eighty-two years of abounding life. Among its distinguishing 

18 



characteristics are its ardent patriotism, its devotion to human 
freedom, its fidelity to the material interests of Maine, its irre- 
proachable private walk and habits, its marvelous common sense 
and shrewd forecast of the national trend, and its unsurpassed 
ability and skill in political organization, management and 
achievement. 

*' From the first, to his everlasting honor be it said, he stood 
like a rock against the push and extension of slavery. He stood 
by John Quincy Adams for the right of petition. He indig- 
nantly parted company with Franklin Pierce, whom he had 
helped to elect president, when the latter asked him to vote for 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He broke from the 
Democratic party of his early faith and love when, overpowered 
by its Southern affiliations, it was no longer the party of free- 
dom. He fought and won the fight which, because of his anti- 
slavery leanings, his own party associates made against his first 
re-election to the United States Senate. When later the old 
party ties were entirely severed, he was among the leaders who 
formed the new party of freedom and who put Maine at the head 
of the free column, where it has ever since stood. 

" Meantime he was active in behalf of the material interests 
of his country. His sagacity foresaw and did not fear its rapid 
extension and development. Strong in statement and carrying 
weight when he spoke on the platform or in senatorial debate, 
he yet — not so much as an orator as an accomplisher of results 
— made his mark and won the compliment of being 'the best 
business man' in the Senate. Sumner and Hoar and Blaine and 
many another competent critic have borne striking testimony 
to his effectiveness and influence. It was not his least powerful 
and timely action when in his last days in the Senate, as chair- 
man of the committee on foreign relations, withstanding the 
* Chinese cheap labor ' clamor, he grandly spoke for the national 
faith and honor and defended and successfully maintained the 
treaty rights of China. 

" His shrewd native sense went to the point of things. He 
divined the trend which made the nomination of Seward in 1 860 



19 



impracticable and from the first, even against the sentiment of 
his state, advocated and was a powerful factor in the nomination 
of Lincoln, with whom, against his own expressed inclination 
but in token of his recognized fitness and eminence, he was put 
upon the Republican ticket for the vice-presidency. 

" How, even at this half-century interval, the heart quickens 
as we recall those inspiring days : the anti-slavery fervor that 
preceded and brought on the war ; the debate between Lincoln 
and Douglas ; the freedom-songs of Whittier and Lowell ; the 
fiery eloquence of Wendell Phillips and the dogged persistence 
of Garrison ; the fireside and country store discussions and grove 
meetings in every hamlet ; the uprising of the popular heart and 
conscience against the aggressions of the slave power 1 And 
then the war ; the soldiering on every village green ; the march 
to the front ; the defeats and victories ; the glories and horrors 
of battle ; Julia Ward Howe's battle-hymn ; Gettysburg, where 
Chamberlain won the hero's chaplet ; the comet-burst of Grant 
and Sherman and Sheridan ; the marching through Georgia ; 
Appomattox ; victory ; reunion ; the grand review of the return- 
ing troops in Washington ; the abolition of slavery ! In all this 
Hannibal Hamlin was an inspiring part, a very dynamo among 
the forces that thrilled through the whole land and wrought the 
glorious result, a result beneficent alike to all sections, enfran- 
chising and redeeming the South as well as vindicating the 
North, not to be regarded by any patriot as a sectional victory, 
but as the blessed consolidation and advancement of the whole 
country. North and South alike, indeed no longer North and 
South, but one land with one flag and one destiny, one as never 
before since the Revolution. 

" Hamlin made no false estimate of the insistence and strength 
of the RebeUion. When Seward declared that it would be over 
in ninety days, Hamlin, wiser and surer, truly predicted that it 
would be long and bloody, and urged immediate and full prepa- 
ration for it, and no man more heartily did his part ; himself 
enlisting as a private, putting raw recruits through the drill, a 
lath for a sword in his hand, and never failing to visit and care 

20 



for the Maine boys in the field. He upheld the arm of Lincoln, 
who trusted and consulted him and whose emancipation pro- 
clamation he urged and welcomed. He championed every 
measure for the vigorous prosecution of the war. His voice was 
for action. His soul was in the cause. Well may the Maine 
Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States — and 
no more gallant group of officers went from any state — place, 
they and the citizens of Paris, this memorial to a Maine civilian, 
who was made a Companion of that order because of his 'especial 
distinction' for loyalty to the cause for which those gallant offi- 
cers fought. 

" It is an old saying that the poet is born, not made. If it is 
true, it is as true of the politician as of the poet. Aptness for 
public affairs is largely an inherent quality, a gift of nature. It 
finds its consummation in the statesman. As the bright wit of 
Speaker Reed — we love to call him Tom Reed — put it, the 
statesman is the politician who is dead. In this high and laud- 
able interpretation of the word, Hannibal Hamlin, like Lincoln, 
was first and last, a politician. But he never was a trimmer. 
He had convictions, deep-seated, controlling. To carry them into 
effect and to ensure his own political placing for effectuating 
them he indeed left no stone unturned. Ambitious, loving the 
exercise of power and the holding of official position for its exer- 
cise ? Yes. But it was the ambition which, rightly directed 
and inspired, is the agency that works all the great advances and 
reforms. A politician .'' Yes. But never a time-serving politi- 
cian. Had he been he never would have broken with the strong 
forces in his own party which seemed to hold his political fortune 
in their hands, yet which he defied rather than sacrifice his prin- 
ciples. Had he been, he never would have resigned the lucrative 
office of collector of customs — valuable to him who was not rich 
in worldly goods — rather than serve or endorse the administra- 
tion of Andrew Johnson. Not a time-serving but a people-serv- 
ing politician. And the plain people knew him and trusted him. 
They knew that he kept faith and that his word was as good as 
his bond. 



21 



" It is easy and common to accuse men, who have Hamlin's 
popularity, of truckling to popular favor, of resorting to popular 
arts, of demagogical hobnobbing and letting down. But any 
popularity so gained is sham and evanescent and never stands 
the test of time. Hamlin's popularity stood the test of three- 
score years and never weakened. It was a popularity born in 
him — the genuine outcome of the nature of the man. He * liked 
folks.' In his boyhood he was the companion and leader of his 
mates. His personal relations with his fellow men were hearty, 
responsive, sincere. In the very fury of the anti-slavery struggle 
he retained the personal friendship of Southern and Democratic 
leaders who on public questions were his bitter opponents. 
There was no affectation in his hail-fellow-well-metness. It was 
genuine. It was simply the involuntary unstudied disclosure of 
the inner man he was. He could no more affect chill and reserve 
than the cold and reserved man can affect cordiality. He had 
a playful love of fun and practical jokes, one of which cost him 
a re-election to the United States Senate. When at an anni- 
versary of Hebron Academy years ago, he took us young fellows 
into the grove back of it and sitting on a log, smoking a ' long 
nine,' himself a boy again, recalled to us the memories of his 
academic days and put himself in sympathy with us and our 
interests and ambitions, it was the outbubbling of his very 
instincts and temperament. Hannibal Hamlin the politician, 
— honored be the title — is dead; Hannibal Hamlin the states- 
man still lives. 

** Lincoln and Hamlin ! Born the same year. Typical Amer- 
icans. Both from and of the ' plain people.' Both mastering 
fortune, working their way, winning the prize. Both kept the 
faith and fought the good fight. They spoke for freedom. They 
guided the nation through perilous war to a new birth of liberty 
and union. Their names were blazoned together on the flag of 
the triumphant election of president and vice-president of the 
United States in i860. From that day to this they have been 
engraved together on the history of their country. In this cen- 
tennial year since their birth they, still together, shine forth with 

22 



a fresh lustre, inspiring in this later generation of American 
youth, native or foreign born, the spirit of patriotism, of loyal 
service, of personal integrity, of unflinching courage, of true cit- 
izenship. Engraven in the history of their country and glowing 
today with living fire in our hearts are the names of Abraham 
Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin." 

General Chamberlain then introduced Senator Eugene Hale, 
of Ellsworth, who spoke without notes, but very impressively. 
In introducing Senator Hale, General Chamberlain said : 

" This prolific region furnishes yet another jewel, the second 
adjoining town giving to the State and the country one whose 
station and power in the government mark him one of the ablest 
of our senators, — who followed in that high place Hannibal 
Hamlin returning from honored companionship with Lincoln. I 
present Senator Eugene Hale." 

The following report of Senator Hale's address is taken from 
the Oxford Democrat of August 3 1 : 

SENATOR HALE's ADDRESS. 

•' I do not speak without some emotion, in attending this 
memorial in honor of Hannibal Hamlin. The name of Hannibal 
Hamlin is near to me. Eighty-three years ago my father and 
Hannibal Hamhn attended Hebron Academy together, lived in 
the same house, and were boys and friends together. My early 
political life was under the friendship and confidence of the 
great senator. The sweet lady, who honors this occasion with 
her presence, is a near friend of me and of my wife. So it 
seems entirely fitting that I should take some small part in a 
memorial to Hannibal Hamlin. 

" After all that has been said, and has been so well said, of the 
career of Hannibal Hamlin, there is little that I need to add. As a 
looker-on I saw it all, and when I first entered the halls of Con- 
gress as a representative, there was no better friend and mentor 
of mine than Senator Hamlin. I know how strong he was, not 
only with the people of Maine, but with the men in public life. 

23 



" The one thing which I wish to emphasize is his foundation 
principle of absolute truthfulness and sincerity. In no place 
was there any question of his position. It is a tribute to him to 
say that I never heard of his being quoted on two sides of any 
question. That cannot be said of all public men. 

" When I entered the Senate, I found that he had carried 
this reputation there, and it had made him strong and trusted 
with his associates in that body. 

" His sincerity made him take his political life in his hands, and 
stake it all. I have seen him when the political skies looked 
dark and cloudy for him ; but though others might regard the 
situation with apprehension, he was always serene, and never 
disturbed. 

" That life, Mr. President, ought to be and is an exemplar. His 
plain, straightforward way of dealing with things ; his plain com- 
mon sense, to which reference has been made, are things worth 
emulating. It will be better for Maine, if in the future there 
are more men who make Hannibal Hamlin their pattern. This 
west wind that sweeps over this hill is not clearer and purer 
than was Hannibal Hamlin. These great trees are not more 
deeply rooted in the soil than was his character rooted in the 
principles of truth and right. Public life is better, private life 
is sweeter, because he lived. It is better for us all that he lived, 
and that we honor his memory as we do to-day." 

The last of the addresses was by the Hon. Charles S. Hamlin, 
of Boston. In presenting him. General Chamberlain said : 

" Now again the testimony of Massachusetts ; by one who 
also has large experience in affairs of state, and adjusting the 
controversies of nations, — who conjoins with the name we 
honor, another, memorable in our history. I present the Hon. 
Charles Sumner Hamlin, of Boston." 

MR. Hamlin's address. 

" In the limited time alloted to me it will be impossible to refer 
in detail to the many distinguished services rendered the state 

24 




HON. EUGENE HALE. 



and the nation by Hannibal Hamlin, the hundredth anniversary 
of whose birth we celebrate to-day. Such reference, however, 
is not necessary for the services he rendered form a part, and 
an important part, of our country's history and he who has read 
that history must needs know that life. 

" To my mind, perhaps the most conspicuous trait of the man 
was his good judgment and unerring common sense, which, 
coupled with statesmanship of high order and lofty patriotism, — 
have projected his life into our country's history so that he 
stands forth not only a great leader of men, but, as well, a wise 
framer of laws, at a time when leadership and legislative capacity 
were imperatively called for by the nation. 

" The period of time covered by his useful life embraces the 
most critical period of the history of our country, — a period dur- 
ing which there was developed from a foundation well laid but 
not too secure, an imposing structure of government admitted 
by all to be, both ideally and in fact, the most successful repub- 
lic in the world's history. 

" In the building up of this structure Hannibal Hamlin played 
an important part, and in dwelling briefly upon this historical 
evolution I feel that I am thereby paying a tribute of respect 
and admiration to him who did so much to make it a reality. 

" It is difficult to grasp the marvellous growth of our country 
since its foundation. The early colonists, more or less inde- 
pendent communities, soon found that they must come together 
into some form of union and there resulted the confederation to 
resist the attacks of hostile Indians ; then followed the irritating 
differences with the mother country which brought forth the 
committees of correspondence ; the next step produced the Con- 
tinental Congress which proclaimed that great document, the 
Declaration of Independence ; then followed the Articles of 
Confederation, and lastly, as a crowning result, our present 
Constitution. 

" We should never forget that under that Constitution the peo- 
ple of the United States owe allegiance to no personal sovereign 
or ruler. They owe allegiance to our government, — and this 

25 



allegiance is two-fold, — to the government of the state as well 
as that of the nation. There is, or should be, no conflict in this 
two-fold allegiance ; it is recognized and affirmed in the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

" At different periods of our national life, however, popular 
attention has been diverted from one of the dual systems of 
government under which we live and concentrated upon the 
other. At the foundation of our government under the Consti- 
tution, the national idea, of necessity, came to the front, for a 
national government had just been created. The people of the 
sovereign states surrended with much reluctance a part of their 
sovereign power to the new national government. Under the 
interpretation and guidance, however, of those great leaders, 
Wilson, Marshall, Webster, Hamlin and others, the growth of 
the nation under the powers granted by the people has been 
steady and sure. 

" Hannibal Hamlin represented, perhaps as well as any man in 
our history, those who firmly believed in the preservation of the 
sovereign rights of the individual states which had not been 
transferred to the national government. In fact he may be said 
to be one of the conspicuous leaders among those who were bred 
under the inspiration of the states rights doctrine. Under his 
leadership that doctrine steadily developed. Side by side with 
it, however, was the doctrine of the other school which empha- 
sized and stood for the power of the national government. 
While in theory, as I have stated, there was no necessary con- 
flict between the two, yet in practice the history of our country 
has been but a record of the conflicts between these two schools 
of political thought as recorded in the legislation of Congress and 
of the states respectively. For many years in fact the so-called 
states rights doctrine marked the dividing line between the two 
principal political parties. 

" The great political party, however, to which Hannibal Ham- 
lin then belonged, carried the states rights doctrine to such 
extremes that statesmen began to preceive that the doctrine thus 
applied might become, as it did become, inconsistent with the 

26 




HON. CHARLES S. HAMLIN. 



perpetuity of our national government. Out of this conflict 
between states rights and national power finally came the Civil 
War from which the national idea emerged triumphant. 

" I think it can be stated with confidence that Hannibal Ham- 
lin, to the time of his death, never departed from those funda- 
mental ideas as to the rights of the individual states which he 
had imbibed from early boyhood. The unreasonable, extreme 
application of these ideas, however, became repellent to his keen 
intelligence and his broad statesmanship and finally his con- 
science compelled him to leave the party which insisted upon 
such apphcation ; yet he stood fast to the ideas themselves as an 
essential part of the foundation of our great government, believ- 
ing them in no degree inconsistent with the broadest national 
development. 

"When we compare the period just following the establishment 
of the Constitution of the United States with modern times we 
realize how steadily the conception of national power has grown. 
At the beginning of this period, in fact up to and far beyond 
the time of the birth and early days of Hannibal Hamlin, while 
the National Constitution was loyally accepted, yet the prevail- 
ing theory seems to have been that the United States govern- 
ment was little more than a confederation of states. At the 
present time, however, we recognize that our National Consti- 
tution created a great nation and that national unity and power 
can exist without conflict with the rights of the individual 
states, — rights as precious and inviolable to-day as at any time 
in our national history. 

"We hear much at the present time as to the necessity of 
increasing the national power at the expense of the power of 
the individual states and many questions have arisen in which 
there appears to be inevitable conflict between the two. I feel 
that to solve these problems properly we need men of the con- 
structive genius and statesmanship of Hannibal Hamlin. 

" If he were with us to-day he would be among the first in pro- 
claiming the doctrine that every subject embraced within the 
powers granted by the Constitution to the national government 

27 



is, and should be, within the absolute, supreme control of that 
government ; on the other hand he would vigorously stand for 
the powers retained by the states and would defend and main- 
tain them as the very bulwarks of our liberty. 

" There are many among us to-day insistent upon increasing 
national powers without too careful consideration whether such 
increase may not be a trespass upon the rights of the individual 
states. On the other hand we see many eminent men holding 
back and tenaciously clinging to the states rights doctrine and 
looking askance even upon the normal development of national 
powers. 

" To my mind there is no necessary conflict, in the develop- 
ment of those powers, between the states and the nation. The 
country needs, however, legislators of practical sense and good 
judgment to bring about a harmonious union or co-operation 
between the two, and no man was ever better fitted to seek and 
obtain this co-operation than was Hannibal Hamlin whose mem- 
ory we honor to-day. 

" To those who apparently advocate an extension of national 
authority almost obliterating state sovereignty I am sure that 
he would quote the words of that eminent expounder of the 
Constitution, James Wilson of Pennsylvania : 

" 'To support with vigor a single government, over the whole extent of 
the United States, would demand a system of the most unqualified and the 
most unremitted despotism.' 

" On the other hand, I am sure if he were with us that he 
would point out that the individual states have duties as well as 
rights, and that each state should faithfully perform such duties 
not only to its own greatest good, but as well, to that of the 
nation, and that deliberate refusal to perform such duties might 
well bring our whole system of dual government into confusion. 

" I know of no man better fitted for such a task than was Han- 
nibal Hamlin, and the example of his life, I am sure, will give 
strength and encouragement to those statesmen of the present 
time who are faithfully working to bring about this harmonious 
co-operation. 

28 




HENRY P. FORBES, D.D. 



" Hannibal Hamlin was faithful to every trust. He was loyal 
to his state. He was true to the nation. We owe to his ser- 
vices, in material part, the fact that freedom, not slavery, is the 
corner-stone of our republic and that all men, black as well as 
white, can gather together as citizens under the folds of the flag 
of the United States." 

At the close of Mr. Hamlin's address General Chamberlain 
introduced the poet of the day in these words : 

** Our memorial calls out the answering tones between spirit 
and matter. It is poetry that threads the deep analogies of the 
universe. Fitly comes this vision to-day, through your poet, 
born in Paris, — the Rev. Dr. Henry P. Forbes of St. Lawrence 
University, Canton, N. Y., his theme * Our Boulder.' " 

OUR BOULDER 

I 

Gray boulder, rent in dawn of time from far Laurentian crag, 
The Ice-king's clasp, his glacier grasp, held thee while centuries lag. 
Long, long he planed with thee the clilTs, ploughed deep the river's bed ; 
With Titan toil ground fine the soil whence comes our daily bread. 

The beauty of this day is thine, the grace of hill and glen ; 
This shapeless land, under thy hand, becomes a home for men. 
And shaping thou wast shaped. In all that age-long stress and storm, 
The Artist fine, wrought, line by line, the beauty of thy form. 

Thy toil is done. Thy rest is won. Here, on this noble dome. 
On which the White Hills gaze afar, forever be thy home. 
The hungry sea shall eat the clififs along Maine's beauteous shore ; 
Naught shall molest thy perfect rest. Here sleep thou evermore ! 

Mit- 
II 

Fit symbol art thou, boulder gray, toil-rounded yet unrent, 

Of that great life, in fruit so rife, God's chosen instrument 

To plane the toothy crags of ancient wrong and thraldom base, 

Shape a new land, where men shall stand compeers, of every race. 

Granitic life of texture firm ! the toilful years fourscore 
Bespoke his dower of sinewy power. No dross was in that ore. 
No drone, no pampered nursling at the the flaccid breast of wealth ; 
Like Norseman old he braved the cold, a rugged oak of health. 

29 



Oh seamless life ! Unrent, unshaltered by the brunt of sin ; 
That granite will withstood life's ill. No lure his soul could win. 
For him whose clean right hand no tainted gold could ever stain, 
No greed insane of ill-got gain ; give thanks, ye sons of Maine ! 

Katahdin of our statesmen he ; heaven's airs about him blew ; 
Aloft o'er murk of simpering smirk his powers to greatness grew ; 
The heart that loveth all men's good ; the reason Argus-eyed ; 
The scorn of wrong, the logic strong, the statecraft that can guide. 

When slavery's power brought crisis hour, two men the nation calls, 
To lead the fray, to breast the day when fear weak souls appals. 
From slow Sangamon's silent stream the sad-browed martyr strides, 
Our warrior-knight leaps to the fight from clear Penobscot's tides. 

For four long years, four crimson years, ere Slavery sank and died, 
Of soul akin, in valor twin, they battled side by side. 
For one the martyr-wreath. But noble life is grand as death. 
Long life one gave, the land to save. In both pride glorieth. 

Ill 

In highest heaven was Freedom born, above the star-sown dome ; 
At man's dim birth he came to earth, to make her zones his home. 
In Orient climes he vict'ries won ; a netv world then to free, 
With Pilgrim bark, mid dangers dark, gull-pinioned, swept the sea. 

A hundred summer suns have kissed this hill to harvest hue. 

Since Freedom came, with soul aflame, unto a fireside new : 

A babe new-born in cradle slept. Its horoscope he read ; 

That young life sealed his sword to wield, when gleam the war-fires dread. 

Oh, giajit Freedom, come again ! The slave-stained years have fled : 
When sinks the day, this boulder gray be pillow for thy head. 
Dream ladder-dreams ; arise, and pray, and consecrate this sod. 
For loyal souls who seek high goals, a Bethel, house of God. 

UNVEILING OF THE MEMORIAL. 

The unveiling- of the memorial followed. Standing within the 
lines inclosing the memorial, General Chamberlain announced the 
simple service by two of Hannibal Hamlin's descendants, Miss 
Louise M. Hamlin of Bangor, a great-granddaughter, and jNIiss 
Julia F. Carter of Paris, a grand-niece. Standing on either side 
of the boulder, at a signal given by General Chamberlain, they 
drew the flags from the tablet, a great-grandson of the vice- 
president, Hannibal Hamlin 3d, assisting ; and the band of the 

30 



National Soldiers' Home played "The Star Spangled Banner." 
General Chamberlain then read the inscription on the boulder, 
and the formal services of the day were brought to a close. 

THE INSCRIPTION. 
HANNIBAL HAMLIN 

BORN NEAR THIS SPOT AUGUST 27, 1809 

SPEAKER MAINE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MEMBER OF BOTH BRANCHES OF CONGRESS 

GOVERNOR OF MAINE 

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

MINISTER TO SPAIN 

FRIEND AND COUNSELOR OF LINCOLN 

HONORING THE MAN THE PATRIOT THE STATESMAN 

THE CITIZENS OF PARIS 

AND HIS COMPANIONS OF THE MAINE COMMANDERY 

MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION 

OF THE UNITED STATES 
PLACE THIS MEMORIAL AUGUST 27, I909 

The band of the National Soldiers' Home now returned to 
the church, and from the platform occupied by the speakers of 
the afternoon gave one of its delightful concerts to the great 
gratification of a large assembly. Then the visitors began to 
leave the Hill by the various roads over which they had made 
their way to Paris in the forenoon, carrying with them the mem- 
ory of a historic celebration, worthily conceived and worthily 
executed. 

At a meeting of the Maine Commandery of the Military 
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, held in Port- 
land, September i, 1909, on motion of ex-Governor Frederick 
Robie, the following expression of thanks was adopted : 

" The Companions of the Maine Commandery of the Military 
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, assembled on 
the twenty-seventh day of August, 1909, on the summit of one 
of the most attractive hills in the town of Paris and of Oxford 
County, having attended the exercises connected with the 
unveiling of the granite boulder and bronze tablet erected in 
honor of the illustrious and beloved Senator Hannibal Hamlin, 

31 



vice-president of the United States and confidential adviser dur- 
ing the first historic and memorable administration of our loyal 
and exalted president, Abraham Lincoln, and having celebrated 
the one hundredth anniversary of his birthday, desire in a suit- 
able manner to express their appreciation of the services of the 
day, and to render thanks to General Joshua L. Chamberlain, 
General Selden Connor and Major Henry S. Burrage, a commit- 
tee appointed by the Maine Commandery for the purpose of 
making suitable preparations for the exercises incident to the 
above celebration. 

"We do, therefore, accord to the above Companions great 
praise for fixing the details of the celebration, also for the com- 
plete, satisfactory and available conditions, recognized in every 
part of the exercises, which afforded so grand an entertainment 
and constant enjoyment to thousands of the citizens of the state 
of Maine. We also desire to render additional thanks to Gen- 
eral Joshua L. Chamberlain, president of the day. Governor 
Bert M. Fernald, ex-Governor John D. Long, Senator Eugene 
Hale, Hon. Charles S. Hamlin and the Rev. Dr. Henry P. 
Forbes, whose tributes contributed so much to the importance 
and inspiration of the great occasion. With heartfelt emotion 
we also recall the presence of the widow of Hannibal Hamlin, 
which added so much to the interest of the exercises. 

** The famous band of the National Soldiers' Home furnished 
most entertaining music and is entitled to great praise for its 
part in the services of the day. 

" We also extend to Rear Admiral Henry W. Lyon ( retired ), 
chairman of the Paris executive committee, and his associates on 
that and other of the town committees, and to all the ladies and 
gentlemen of the hospitable town of Paris, unlimited praise and 
thanks for their hearty co-operation in making the celebration a 
memorable one, and for the generous welcome with which the 
members of the Commandery were received by them on this 
historic day." 



32 



ANNIBAL HAMLIN 

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVER 
SARY OF HIS BIRTH **** 
PARIS, MAINE, AUGUST 27, 1909 




->: 



